Tai Tong to offer high cash payout on record earnings

By Amy Su / Staff reporter

Despite a plan to expand by more than 20 outlets in Taiwan and China this year, which may need strong capital support, the Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團) still intends to distribute a high cash payout after reporting record-high earnings for last year.

Tai Tong — the operator of three restaurant chains with 46 outlets — posted NT$185.02 million (US$6.19 million), or NT$9.53 per share, in consolidated net profit last year, up from NT$166.2 billion, or NT$9.42 per share, in 2011, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

The firm said its consolidated net profit in the period from October to December last year was NT$35.74 million, or NT$1.3 per share.

The group planned to expand its total outlets to 70 in Taiwan and China by the end of this year, with a fourth restaurant chain expected to be launched later this year.

However, Tai Tong’s board of directors yesterday approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$8.1 per share to its shareholders, driving the company’s dividend distribution rate to a level above 80 percent.

“The group has sufficient funds to cover its expansion plans and shareholder equity,” an official at the group, who declined to be named, told the Taipei Times.

YIELD

With Tai Tong’s shares closing at NT$190 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the cash dividend of NT$8.1 indicated a dividend yield of 4.26 percent.

The planned dividend still needs to be approved by shareholders at its annual general meeting on June 24, the company said.

Tai Tong plans to open its first Thai Town Cuisine restaurant in Shanghai in the third quarter of this year.

In Taiwan, the company is scheduled to launch various restaurant outlets in Keelung, Pingtung County and Chiayi County later this year, which would be the first time that the group opens outlets outside the major urban areas.